Alta Ski Reports & Video Diary

This year’s opening day was certainly one to remember. After suffering through a painfully dry preseason, the Snow Gods rewarded us generously just in the nick of time. Rarely do you get to ski Baldy Shoulder on opening day let alone all shots off of the High T.

Crowds weren’t too bad helping to keep fresh turns around well into the afternoon. High Boy and Baldy Shoulder were my highlights of the day but really now matter where you skied today you were treated with soft fluffy turns.

A big thanks to the Alta Ski Patrol for their hard work getting so much terrain open on day 1. The forecast looks great again with another storm predicted to hit Monday. Welcome to Winter!

Alta is now reporting a storm total of 41″. Just what we needed for opening day coming this Friday. Alta’s base is now likely deep enough to get most areas on the mountain open. Opening day should be one to remember.

Since lifts aren’t running quite yet we decided to hike across the road from Alta in the Emma’s area. The skiing was absolutely phenomenal! Easily one of the deepest days of the year. We found no rocks in sight and skied bottomless pow top to bottom. The forecast looks to be shaping up nicely with another storm rolling in Thursday night. See you on the slopes Friday morning!

I don’t often say there was too much snow but today was a little bit much. We skied in Grizzly Gulch and it was really hard to stay on top and not get stuck.

The avalanche conditions were super sketchy so venturing into steeper terrain was not an option but the few turns we were able to link up were pretty magical. Alta is reporting a storm total of 32″ with more to come tonight. It’s been one hell of a week so far. Keep it coming!

Alta received a foot of fresh in the past 24 hours making for some surprisingly tasty turns today. You wouldn’t think things would be as filled in as they are considering our dismal season so far. But, somehow coverage is pretty good.

I skied a High Boy lap and really only hit one rock. The weather was gorgeous up there today and with another storm on the horizon turkey day turns should be shaping up nicely if you’re willing to hike for it. Alta plans to open December 2nd so keep doing your snow dance. It’s working!

ACE will be showing all of the winning edits from last year’s Discrete Video Challenge. Also featured will be many of Alta’s local photographers. Lots of prizes will be given away as well in a raffle drawing. Come show your support for a great cause and get pumped for Winter!

Alta received it’s first significant snowfall of the season on September 24. Over 15″ were reported making for some skiable turns. Rocks and stumps were everywhere but if you skied cautiously you could avoid damage to your skis. I decided to give Baldy Shoulder a shot and was pleasantly surprised by the conditions only hitting one rock on the way down.

A few brave shredders that day tackled Main Chute with decent results in the gut of the chute. It looks like were back to sunny warm temps for the next couple of weeks but winter will be here before you know it!

This year’s Frank may or may not have been the last. Let’s hope not because once again the festivities reminded us just how much fun the party known simply as Frank can be. Locals worked extra hard this past week to build a stage for the announcing crew and others took on the even larger project of building a series of jumps. A tunnel was constructed with at least 6 huge kickers surrounding it. A less-than-Bud-mogul-tour quality bump line was also in place down the gut of Punch Bowl.

Skiers were as usual throwing huge tricks and taking crazy speed in to the kickers. And the party of onlookers was larger than any of the previous years. First place went to local Andrew Pollard, for no particular reason and that’s how we like it. Cheers to everyone who participated and those who just showed up to drink.

Alta’s closing day was one to remember. If it weren’t for last year’s impressive final day I’d say this was by far the best closing day in memory. A 13″ storm total provided exceptional skiing conditions. The snow came in thick but not sticky. You could carry speed without concern pretty much everywhere. Alta’s slopes were so smooth it felt like a race course on all aspects.

Nobody showed up for opening chair giving the die-hards a country club like day for the first two hours. By the time the late day party goers showed Alta Ski Patrol dropped the Devil’s Castle gates to those with backcountry gear. It’s pretty rare to ski the Castle this empty and untracked making for a very memorable end to the season.

A big thank you to everyone who helped support the blog this season! See you all next year!

If you haven’t met Bill Barron on the slopes of Alta yet then now is the time to get to know him. Bill started patrolling for Alta in 1990 and later became Deputy Marshall for the town of Alta.

In 2009, Bill created Renewable Energy Resources, a non profit organization with the intention to help facilitate ways for individuals to become more energy efficient. Bill chose to postpone his work with his own non-profit to collaborate with the Citizens Climate Lobby. CCL is an international non-partisan non-profit organization focused on promoting federal legislation called fee and dividend to address our human impact on the environment.

Bill is running as an unaffiliated candidate for US Senate. Bill is running as a single issue candidate focused on the need to address climate change while promoting a legislative solution which has the capacity to begin to match the scale of the problem: Carbon Fee and Dividend and create an opportunity for constituents to use their vote to make a statement of their concern for this overarching issue. “My goal is to attain 10% of the vote, 91,000 people. This would draw attention in DC and shift the way this issue is viewed. Based on the current political makeup, this is the most effective way that I can create change and highlight the moral responsibility we have as a generation to take action.”

The season is coming to a close but don’t tell Alta that. 9″ of thick Spring mank blanketed Alta’s slopes yesterday. The storm came in with lots of lightning causing Ski Patrol to shut down the mountain around 1:00 pm. The mountain remained closed for the remainder of the day providing some smooth first tracks this morning.

Patrol were bombing all over the place and most aspects were sliding pretty far causing the High T to remain closed all day. Luckily Baldy Shoulder opened around 11:00 giving skiers a few more chances to dip their tips in fresh pow one last time. Temps were warm but the sun didn’t come out much so hopefully tomorrow morning will still be good. Get it before it’s gone!